Fair enough and I'm not suggesting we only speak in givens or certainties, but I also think the nature of transfers and new players in new leagues and new managers inherently implies uncertainty, even if those players have a history of success elsewhere and the manager has also succeeded in the past. Van Gaal was a successful manager with a proven track record. That ended up going horribly wrong. Are Mourinho and Van Gaal the same? Of course not, but they both have a failed tenure in their recent past. Di Maria is a fantastic player and was a huge signing for you. That also went south pretty quickly. Zlatan and Mhhitaryan are fantastic players and would seem to be sure things to succeed at United. But recent history tells us that fantastic players have come here and failed miserably.
Again, I'm not saying that's what's going to happen. In fact, I believe it's more likely everything works out and the season is a success. But when you talk about being on a "clear upward trajectory" there needs to be more evidence than just new signings and a new manager, especially when you consider United's recent history with splashy signings and new big name managers. What's that phrase about forgetting history and then having it repeat itself?? That's all I'm saying. Optimism is perfectly fine, but given recent events like those I've referenced isn't it better if it were cautious optimism? For the record I feel the same way about Spurs.
Yes, of course there is uncertainty, that's why I made an objective observation that United are on a clear upward trajectory. Van Gaal and Mourinho are hardly comparable, as you yourself note, so I won't dwell on that comment. Di Maria's circumstances are nothing like the circumstances surrounding the players you compare him to, so again, the comparison has very little relevance, however for arguments sake, I will justify my point of view. Di Maria was actually very good for a while, and ended the season contributing the most amount of assists. His issue(s) lay in the fact that he did not want to be at United, he was not used correctly by Van Gaal (as he himself noted in an interview), and that he was/is mentally weak. Van Gaal is gone, and Zlatan and Mkhitaryan (and Pogba) by all reports WANT to be at United, so evidently much has changed. You are ignoring the obvious changes that have occurred, brushing over the clear differences between the circumstances surrounding the aforementioned players, and you're now generalising based on one or two past incidences. Is that fair?
To address your other point, I wholeheartedly disagree that a new manager and new signings are not enough to make the observation I made. You cannot lump all our "big name" signings into the same basket, as I've been trying to stress. They are individual situations which should be looked at individually. On face value, Pogba and Di Maria are similar only in that they are both very expensive signings. Just because they are both "big name signings", doesn't mean that we should be wary that Pogba will flop. Mourinho did not stop becoming a fantastic manager, other circumstances led to his downfall at Chelsea (Medical staff etc). Again, this is not a problem present at United! Your sample size on all of your points is just too small to draw conclusions. Yes, a player/manager
can flop, but that does not mean future players/managers
will flop.
I do see the merit in much of what you're saying, but by your astonishingly strict conditions, speculation should only occur when the result is all but certain. We are on a clear upward trajectory, I maintain that, but I have never stated that the possibility of failure isn't real. It is of course cautious optimism, I'd have thought that was a given. It is not certain United will improve, but it looks VERY likely.
